When I first came to Canada I stayed in one of the most notorious ghettos in the country, Calgary northeastern quadrant. This is where majority of Sikhs live. Afghans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are amongst the residents of this part of the city as well but like every where else you will find people from every corner of the world here. The neighbourhood was quite diverse at the time. No Sikhs have taken over. There was a big Pizza Hut restaurant. The place was changed to a Punjabi Sikh restaurant after a few years that their population grew. Not many people would go to the restaurant and of course the franchise decided to shut the restaurant, lay off the people and move on. These days there're not any, or many, Pizza Hut restaurants. They all have been turned to pick up place. We visited the place a few times. The food was mediocre and the service was next to terrible! They changed it then to buffet/shop and served Pizza as well! In a few years the business went down due to low quality and then they turned it to butcher shop/sweet shop! It last only a few months and boom! Gone! I know how difficult it could be to run business, even amongst East Indians or to be specific, Sikhs who do not expect high quality, hygiene and customer service but even that could change otherwise the place was still in business.
That said, it's no doubt that Canadians are the ones who suffered the most in these transaction. The shops, including this one, have been mostly replaced by the shops that Sikhs and other East Indians would shop at and of course they hire people of their own. Even Safeway which has been in the neighbourhood since I was there and I used to ride one of The Brave's bikes to go there for shopping, uses the majority East Indian employees. This trend is increasing to the point that The Chef was mentioning that these guys will no longer need Khalistan! This world is the name that Sikhs, in northern India, have given to the land that they have intended to turn it to a new country and they have been fighting with the Government of India for decades. They assassinated Indra Gandhi after she ordered Indian Army to attack Harmandir Sahib, or as its known to foreigners the Golden Temple, back in 1984, under Operation Blue Star to capture Sikh separatists.
Then they blew up an Air India passenger jet over eastern Canada back in 1985. The trail of the accused took up until 2008/2010, when I used to live in British Columbia. As far as I remember no one was charged and Indians (East Indians) believe justice was not served. Many Canadian politics have been accused of supporting Sikh separatists and that's simply because they seek votes at the time of election. Now I read in the news that India has expelled a Canadian diplomat because the Canadian P. M. had accused the Government of India of killing the Sikh separatist movement leader in Canada!
Despite the love(!) that Canadian politicians show to Sikhs and other foreigners, I'm certain that Canadian people are not so happy with what has been happening to their country but I think there's a little that they can do because in this country as soon as you open your mouth to protest and object, they label you with something that might not come off, easily! You're either sexist or racist or this " ist " and that " ist"!
Besides Canadians are busy like everyone else and as soon as they're done with their daily work, there's nothing they desire more than relaxing and resting. So I don't think there will ever be any change but I'm sure they regret what they've done to their country. The next generation will be so disappointed and angry at their parents!
(Photo: The site of former Pizza Hut restaurant at the corner of Falconridge and Castelridge in northeast Calgary. The place as is left vacant now)
No comments:
Post a Comment